Metal like a Russian

In the last decades metal bands usually came from Northern Europe, but it seems that in the in the last few years some other countries are entered the lists – and cool metal bands are „growing” like mushrooms all around the world.

The Russian metal band, called Lostheaven was formed in 2013 as a cover-project. „We were huge Nightwish fans with instruments who wanted to play some of their songs. Step by step we learned to play, did several shows, became close friends and then realised that we want to do something more together: to create, to be heard, to touch people and share our dreams through the music. That’s how we came to our own songs and set a goal to record an album” – told us Daria Grishaeva, the drummer of Lostheaven.

MyTouche: Nowadays it’s still very unusual for a metal band having a female drummer. When did you start to play drums and why did you choose this musical instrument?

Daria Grishaeva: It started accidentally. (smiles) I was involved in music since my childhood, played guitars, keyboards, even did some vocals, but it wasn’t really my cup of tea. When I was 15 and played in the school rock-band, I tried drums and it was love from the 1st second. I absolutely love the instrument, it’s cool and challenging at the same time which gives me the motivation to practice more and to reach new heights as a musician.

MyTouche: Let’s continue a very crucial question: when you told your parents that you imagine your future as a drummer in a metal band, how did they react?

Daria Grishaeva: My parents have always supported me in everything I did – from writing poems to playing drums in a metal band – as soon as it didn’t hurt me to get a good education. Luckily, I’ve always found time to do both studying and music, so there was no conflict.

MyTouche: To be honest, I’ve been always amazed by the drummers perfomances in all bands. I’m sure that it will be an incompetent question, but: are there any special physical training sessions what are needed for a good drummer?

Daria Grishaeva: I agree with you, drummers are cool. (laughs) Actually there are no specific sessions, but anyway you need to stay in good shape and be physically prepared, because that hours of drumming will make you feel like a squeezed lemon.

MyTouche: Lostheaven has four members at the moment: you, the singer, Varya, Michail the guitarist and the bassist, called Denis. When the band was formed, how much was conscious the gender equality in the band?

Daria Grishaeva: It’s an interesting question, but first of all, in the beginning there was 5 of us – we had a male keyboardist as well, so there was no gender equality. But of course girls always ruled! (laughs) At the moment we also got the new member – Konstantin, who plays the 2nd guitar, and we are looking forward to find a keyboard player to make our live shows more interesting and epic.

MyTouche: Your debut album will be released in this year. Do you know the exact date? And what can we expect?

Daria Grishaeva: There is no exact date, but we plan to finish the album during the upcoming summer, so it will be out in Autumn. When in comes to expectations… In my opinion, the album is gonna be unusual. It is our first “pen test” and we’re still in search of our own style, that’s why the songs are different. Heavy riffs and breakdowns, massive orchestral arrangements, gentle and strong vocals at the same time… We try to follow the best traditions of symphonic-metal, but bringing something new at the same time.

MyTouche: What do you expect from the nearer and further future, and what are the goals of Lostheaven in the music industry?

Daria Grishaeva: The nearest goal is the album release. We’ve come a long way to it and now it’s very exciting to represent our music to the public. The 1st one is always the most special one. In long term we’d love to say a new word in music, to hear not “It sounds like Nightwish” (what people say now about most of female-metal bands) but “It is Lostheaven”. In addition, our big dream has always been touching people’s hearts. We want them to find something personal, something very special in our music, to inspire for living their dreams. In the end, we all are searching for our lost heaven…